This is the cheesecake I grew up eating: light from quark, gently scented with vanilla, and just sweet enough. The batter comes together in minutes and the aroma fills the entire flat.

Ingredients

Crust

• 200g flour
• 100g sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 1 egg
• 75g butter, softened

Filling

• 1kg low-fat quark (curd cheese)
• 225g sugar
• 120g neutral oil
• 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 500ml milk
• 1 packet vanilla pudding powder

Preparation

1. Heat the oven to 200 °C. Grease a 26cm springform pan.
2. For the crust, knead flour, sugar, baking powder, vanilla sugar, egg, and butter into a smooth dough. Press it evenly into the base and up the sides of the pan.
3. For the filling, whisk quark, sugar, oil, vanilla sugar, eggs, lemon juice, milk, and pudding powder until silky.
4. Pour the filling into the lined pan, smooth the top, and bake for about 60 minutes until the center is just set. Tent with foil if it colors too quickly.
5. Cool completely in the tin before slicing. It’s even better the next day after a chill in the fridge.